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Lost and Found in Secularization

A Religious Perspective on the Meaning of Volunteering

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Religion and Volunteering

Part of the book series: Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies ((NCSS))

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Abstract

This chapter takes as its point of departure the premise that a religious perspective can shed some light on the meaning of social practices exercised in everyday life, inside as well as outside formal religious contexts. In accordance with this post-secular approach, it explores how volunteers perceive the meaning of volunteering by applying a theological framework. More precisely, it explores how volunteers deal with the ‘problem of goodness’, namely the tension people perceive between doing good for the sake of the other, being altruistic, while at the same time receiving ‘payment’ in the form of gratitude and fulfilment as a consequence. This predicament emerges and finds different solutions in various religions and world-views. However, since the empirical data is based on interviews with 40 Swedish volunteers, what will be described and discussed is how this problem is handled by using Lutheran theology. It is argued that by using a theological framework in the interpretation of the interviews, it is possible to understand some central and recurrent themes about the tension the volunteers perceived between their aim of being altruistic while at the same time receiving gratitude and fulfilment as a result of caring for their neighbours. It would seem that the Lutheran scheme fits the data and can offer an alternative to interpretations of the motives to volunteering cast in terms of a dichotomous choice between a naive altruism and a cynical egoism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I restrict my discussion to the European situation and its Christian heritage. This is solely due to the character of my empirical data and involves no essential claims on religion as such.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Civil Society Studies, Ersta Sköndal University College, Stockholm, Sweden

    Johan von Essen

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  1. Johan von Essen
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Correspondence to Johan von Essen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Lesley Hustinx

  2. Institute for Civil Society Studies, Ersta Sköndal University College, Stockholm, Sweden

    Johan von Essen

  3. Universitair Centrum Sint-Ignatius Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

    Jacques Haers

  4. Universitair Centrum Sint-Ignatius Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

    Sara Mels

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von Essen, J. (2015). Lost and Found in Secularization. In: Hustinx, L., von Essen, J., Haers, J., Mels, S. (eds) Religion and Volunteering. Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04585-6_8

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